Safety-catch for elevator-doors.



SPHZFADEN. SAFETY cATcHmR ELEvAToR uooks.

APPLICATION FILED DEC. 16| |916.

Patented July 3, 1917.

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E er nnuv ATTORNEYS TED STATES PATENT FFTQE.

BERNHARD SPITZFADEN, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TO ELEVATOR EFFICIENCY APPLIANCE CO., INC., OF yNE'VV YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

SAFETY-CATCH FOR ELEVATOR-DOORS.

Application led December 16, 1916.

T0 all whom t may concern.'

Be it known that I, BERNHARD SPITZFADEN, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of the city of New York, borough of Brooklyn, in the county of Kings and State of New York, have invented a new and Improved Safety-Latch for Elevator-Doors, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

My invention is more particularly designed as an improvement on safety latches ofthe type illustrated in the patent granted to Charles O. Marks, January 4, 1916, in which the elevator door is provided with a rack, the teeth of which are engageable by a latch controlled by a cam on the elevator car. The space available in practice for accommodating an automatic latch of the character referred to is exceedingly restricted under the requirements of the law and .the tendency of builders to economize the space occupied by the elevator well.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a safety latch that may be applied to elevator cars and doors irrespective of the space between the car and the threshhold at the landing.

A further important object of the invention is to provide a trip or cam on the elevator car of a character that it will yield in the event of the latch bolt not responding to the action of the cam thereon.

Another important object is to provide in connection with the automatic latch, an emergency attachment whereby the latch may be manually operated by those authorized in the event the car cannot be moved to actuate the latch.

More specically the invention has for its purpose to accomplish the stated objects .by a simple construction which may be applied to the elevator with facility and despatch.

The nature of the invention and its advantages will more clearly appear as the description proceeds.

Reference is to be had tothe accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification in which similar reference characters indicate corresponding parts in all the views.

Figure 1 is a perspective view partly in section, showing my invention applied, the view including parts of the fixed structure of an elevator well as well as parts of a sliding door and elevator car;

Fig. 2 isa sectional plan View showing the Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 3, 1917.

serial No. 137,344.

application of the invention to a swinging door;

Fig. 3 is a transverse vertical section on a reduced scale of the elevator cam or trip.

In Fig. 1 the letter A indicates an elevator structure; B, a sliding elevator door; C, the elevator car; and D, a landing.

The numeral 10 indicates a rack bar disposed on the door B transversely thereof at the bottom, the rack teeth being at the under side of said bar and the latter being secured to the door by screws 11 or other means.

A latch bolt 12 is pivoted to reciprocate vertically through a hole 18 in the landing D beneath the door B so that thev head. of the bolt may engage or disengage the rack 10. The bolt 12 is pivotally. secured to one arm of a bellcrank lever 14 which lever is fulcrumed on a transverse shaft or pin 15 supported in opposite sides of a box 16. To the other arm of said lever a plunger 18 is pivotally secured by a bolt 17 or the like, the said plunger extending forwardly through the front of the box.16 to project into the elevator well, the outer end of said plunger having a friction roller 20 adapted to be engaged by a cam or trip 21 on the car C. The plunger 18 operates in a sleeve or casing 19 rigidly secured to the front wall of the box 16 by a set nut 22 on the reduced threaded outer end of said sleeve.

A spring is provided normally tending to project the plunger 18 to the outer position in the path of the cam 21. Advantageously, a plate spring 23 is employed, secured to the bottom of the box 16 by rivets- 24 or the like, the free end of the spring being curved upwardly and forked as at 25 to straddle the plunger 1.8. The forked end 25 of the spring continuously vpresses against a transverse Ypin26 in the plunger 18, the engagement of said pin with the inner end of the sleeve 19 limiting thev outward movement of the plunger in response to the action of the spring. The arrangement is such that thc spring returns the plunger to the outer position after being forced inward by the cam 21. In operation, it will be obvious that the inward movement of the plunger will so rock the bellcrank lever 14 as to draw the latch bolt 12 downward out of engagement with the rack 10, thereby permitting the door to be opened when the elevator car arrives at the landing D. A In the event that the plunger 18 -or latch lce bolt from any cause becomes immovable by the cam 21, I provide for permitting said cam to yield thereby preventing the breaking of the lock or otherwise causing damage. For the purpose the cam 21 is in the form of a flat metal bar or plate having a slot 27 in either or in each end of the bar to receive the fastening screws 28. Thus, the bar 21 will be sufliciently resistant to operate the plunger 18 unless the latter is positively obstructed, in which event the resiliency of the bar will permit it ,toA yield and flatten sufficiently for the car to pass the plunger.

It is required by the laws in many places that means be provided for the manual operation of the latch to release the door in an emergency, particularly at the top and basement oors of a building. The described arrangement of the latch bolt and operating means enables me to provide for the manual operation of the latch without in any way complicating the construction, the result being obtained by extending the arm of the bellcrank 14 that carries the latch 12 sulficiently beyond said latch to be disposed beneath a hole 3.0` formed in the top of the box andA in the floor so that a pencil or other implement may be passed downwardly through the hole to depress the extended end 29 of the lever thereby withdrawing the latch out of engagement with the rack. The hole 30 is provided with a cover Aplate 31 preferably pivoted as at 32 to swing in its own plane, the cover in practice, if desired, having any approved lock means to prevent its movement by unauthorized parties.

In the form shown in Fig. 2, the swinging door B has a vertical hole '10a therein which in practice will be so located as to ,be in register with the hole A13 when the door is closed so'that said hole 1()a may receive the upper end of the latch bolt 12a which is in the form of a plain spindle. In all other respects the latch is the same as in the first described construction and therefore the parts bear numerals corresponding with those in Fig. 1.

In practice, with my improved construction it is only necessary to cut away the facing a of the elevator well and temporarily displacemore or less of the same and dig out any of the usual iilling of the wall behind the face plate to permit of the placing of the box 16 with the vertical latch bolt in proper position. Any suitable means may be employed to support the box in place, the filling being restored beneath the box, or, a bracket or brackets 33 may be provided on the box to4 receive any suitablev fastening 34. It will. be readily understood that the invention may be applied'tol the elevator regard- Y less of the clearance space-'between the elevator` and the well since if necessary,the front of the box 16 vmay aline with the facing a of the wall and the plunger 1S will project beyond the lbox to whatever extent may be necessary to engage the cam on the car. The mounting of all the operative parts of the latch in the b OX, it will readily be understood, permits of the placing of the latch means in `position with facility and despatch and the operation ofv the bolt in the vertical plane of that part or appurtenance of the door to be engaged also enters as a prime factor in freeing' the mechanism of the limitations as to available space in the well..

The numeral 35 indicates a hole in the top of the box 16 to aline with the hole 13 in the landing, and the numeral 36 indicates a hole in the top of the box to aline with the hole 30.

Having thus described my invention I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent: v

1. In a safety latch for elevator doors, a

vertically rockable lever fulcrinnedv be tween its ends, a vertically reciprocating bolt connected with one arm of thelever and operable by the rocking of the latter, means to mount said parts in the wall vof an elevator well to position the bolt for engaging or disengaging the door, said lever having an extension beyond the connection with the said bolt, and constituting a manually operable emergency means whereby to optionally operate the latch bolt by rocking the lever independently of the elevator car, said arm being adapted to be actuated by a downward pressure thereon, a horizontal plunger connected with the opposite arm of said lever and extending horizontally outward whereby to be located in a path to be engaged by an ,elevator car, and means to restore the parts after an operative movement of the'lever. Y

2,. In a safety latch means for elevato doors, a box adapted to be inserted transversely-in the wall of, an elevator well beneath'the elevator door, bellcrankl Alever mounted in said box toy rock in a vertical plane, a vertical latch bolt directly mounted on one arm of the lever and projecting through the. top o-f said box to engage the elevator door, said arm of the lever having an extension beyond the connectionwith the latch bolt constituting a manually operable emergency means whereby to optionally 0perate the latch bolt independently of the elevator car, said arm being accessible from the top of the box, a horizontal plungery connected with the-other arm of said lever and extending outward through the front of the box to loe4 engaged by the elevator car, and meansto restore the parts after movement by the car. e

3. In a safety latch means for elevator doors, adapted to be operated by the elevator car, a box adapted for insertion transversely in the wall of the elevator Well loe-a neath the elevator door, a bellcrank lever mounted in said box, a vertically reciprocating latch bolt pivotally mounted at its lower end directly on one arm of said lever, the top of the box having a hole therein through which said latch bolt projects to engage the door, a transverse sleeve in the front Wall of the box, a horizontal plunger Connected with the other arm of said lever and extending through said sleeve to the front of the box 10 plunger adjacent to the inner end of the l5 sleeve and engaged by the said spring.

BERNHARD SPITZFADEN.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. 0. 

